A judge with a gavel

Andrea Austria / Media Matters

Research/Study Research/Study

Right-wing media's crusade against diverse judges: racist attacks, calls for banning, and even calls for deportation

Right-wing media have accused naturalized judges of having “obvious loyalties outside of this country,” Muslim judges of having “terrorist buddies,” and Black judges of being “dumb” “DEI judges”

Right-wing media figures have spent years lobbing racist insults at judges who are naturalized U.S. citizens or people of color — mocking their names, questioning their loyalties, and falsely identifying American-born judges as immigrants. Some have gone so far as to demand that immigrants and Muslim Americans be barred from serving as judges, while others have pushed for naturalized and even some American-born judges to be stripped of their citizenship and deported.

Right-wing media’s yearslong campaign has now gained support from some congressional Republicans, who recently introduced both a bill and a constitutional amendment that would require all American judges “to be natural-born citizens.”

  • Republican elected officials are supporting efforts to prohibit naturalized US citizens from serving as judges

    • In May, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) introduced a constitutional amendment that would require “members of Congress, federal judges and Senate-confirmed officers to be natural-born citizens of the United States.” In a July 4 Newsweek op-ed attacking D.C. District Court Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago, Mace fearmongered about “foreign-born officials holding power in this government who have proven time and again their loyalty is not to America.” Mace asked, “How did we get here? To a place where foreign-born officials get to decide the laws Americans live under?” [U.S. House of Representatives, office of Rep. Nancy Mace, 5/20/26; Newsweek, 7/4/26]
    • In February, Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) introduced a bill that would “require all American judges to be natural-born citizens.” He argued that the legislation would safeguard the United States “against potential foreign influence in judicial decisions.” [U.S. House of Representatives, office of Rep. Pete Stauber, 2/20/26]
    • In April, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) called to “put more teeth in the denaturalization process” and said he would “absolutely” support banning immigrants from serving as judges or members of Congress. Appearing on The Benny Show, he said, “I don’t think our Founding Fathers ever intended for individuals from hostile nations serving and leading the nation.” [YouTube, The Benny Show, 4/13/26]
    • Criticizing a ruling by Sooknanan in June, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) posted, “If judges can stop Presidents, they should not also be citizens of foreign nations.” [Democracy Docket, 6/23/26]
  • Right-wing media figures have called to bar naturalized citizens and Muslims from serving as judges, and even pushed to deport judges who are immigrants or American-born people of color

    • MAGA podcaster Laura Loomer called for President Donald Trump to sign an executive order “banning judges who were not born in this country,” saying, “If you want to be a judge in this country, you should come from the blood and soil of this country.” She asked, “Isn't it crazy too how we have so many foreign judges?” and insisted, “It's an abomination. I just think it's a total disgrace on our country.” [Rumble, Loomer Unleashed, 5/27/25]
  • Video file

    Citation

    From the May 27, 2025, edition of Loomer Unleashed, streamed on Rumble

    • Loomer also insisted that “Muslims need to be prohibited from holding positions of power” and demanded that an American-born Muslim judge be deported. Referring to D.C. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui — who was born in the United States — Loomer said, “We don't need to be having debates about whether this judge is right or whether he's wrong. He's a Muslim. He shouldn't be a judge in America. He's from Pakistan.” She added, “Denaturalize him, denaturalize his family members, and send him back to the sharia shithole.” [Media Matters, 5/8/26]
    • Right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson said the Founding Fathers should have specified that “you have to be a native-born American in order to hold a judgeship or be in Congress or serve in a federal capacity.” He said “it would’ve been smart” to apply to the judiciary the same “rules that were put upon our president, meaning you had to be born rightwise in the United States of America to rule over us as Americans.” Johnson added, “Nine out of the 13 colonies said you must be a Bible-believing, Christ-professing Christian to serve in any office anywhere, including, of course, being a judge.” [YouTube, The Benny Show, 6/23/26, 6/23/26]
    • On The Benny Show, Article III Project founder Mike Davis said of New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan: “I want to throw his Third World, Marxist trash ass in prison and then revoke his citizenship and send him back” to Colombia. Laura Loomer also called on Trump to “strip Juan Merchan of his citizenship and deport him back to the Third World hellhole he came from.” Merchan has lived in the United States since he was 6 years old. [YouTube, The Benny Show, 1/10/25; Rumble, Loomer Unleashed, 6/4/24; CNN, 4/15/24]
    • The Millstone Report host Paul Harrell insisted that “foreign-born” judges “need to recuse themselves” from cases related to immigration and the U.S. military “at the bare minimum, if not step down altogether.” [Rumble, The Millstone Report with Paul Harrell, 3/26/25]
  • Right-wing media figures have long hurled racist insults at judges they think are immigrants, Muslim, or people of color

  • Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

    • Fox host Tomi Lahren said Jackson “may be the worst DEI hire of all time.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 7/8/25]
    • Daily Wire host Matt Walsh claimed that Jackson is the “perfect illustration of the Black woman privilege,” because “Black women who can barely read or speak — like Ketanji Brown Jackson — are elevated to the most prestigious positions solely because they are Black women.” He argued, “There's really no group in the country more privileged now than Black women” and insisted, “Ketanji Brown Jackson is not qualified to be, like, a high school principal, let alone a Supreme Court justice.” [The Daily Wire, The Matt Walsh Show, 1/14/26]
  • Video file

    Citation

    From the January 14, 2026, edition of The Daily Wire's The Matt Walsh Show

    • Benny Johnson accused Jackson of “getting totally nominated because of your skin color” and “proving again and again that you're too dumb to be on the Supreme Court, that you're too dumb to probably navigate the subway, to parallel park, to get Uber Eats.” He also claimed Jackson's “not a real Supreme Court justice — I don’t believe that she is actually lawfully on the Supreme Court.” [YouTube, The Benny Show, 4/2/26]
  • Video file

    Citation

    From the April 2, 2026, edition of The Benny Show, uploaded to YouTube

    • Johnson later claimed Jackson “has most likely a functionally retarded, like, 70 IQ,” calling her “the single dumbest person to ever hold any office anywhere at any time.” [YouTube, The Benny Show, 5/28/26]
  • US District Judge Amir Ali

    • On War Room, Mike Davis claimed that “Judge Ali apparently wants the president to fund Ali’s Hamas buddies, his terrorist buddies, so they can kill Americans.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 3/19/25]
    • On Infowars, attorney Andrew Branca described Ali as “culturally Egyptian” and insisted that “he's barely an American citizen — he’s certainly not culturally an American citizen,” saying, “There's a difference between a cultural American citizen and a technical, naturalized American citizen who's still culturally a member of his own, you know, foreign nationality.” Branca complained, “He wasn’t born in America. He was born in Canada. He was born in Canada to Egyptian migrant parents.” [Infowars, War Room, 12/16/25]
  • US District Judge Tanya Chutkan

    • Laura Loomer complained that Chutkan “is an immigrant. She's an immigrant! Here we have an immigrant imposing a gag order. She's not even from this country!” She continued, “This is how backward things are in our country. You have immigrants who are now imposing gag orders on presidents of the United States of America, OK? She is the poster child for why we need an immigration moratorium.” [Rumble, Loomer Unleashed, 10/26/23]
  • Video file

    Citation

    From the October 26, 2023, edition of Loomer Unleashed, streamed on Rumble

  • US District Judge Melissa DuBose

    • Fox host Laura Ingraham described DuBose as “a classic far-left pick who satisfied the racial bean counters.” Ingraham called DuBose an “unmitigated disaster” and dismissed her qualifications as “total hogwash.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 5/1/26]
    • Conservative radio host Howie Carr repeatedly described DuBose as “a lesbian, Black judge,” saying, “She’s one of the last judges that Biden slithered in. He wanted to get one more Black lesbian in.” He reiterated, “She’s a lesbian. She’s Black. She’s written about her Marxist phase — sounds like the Marxist phase never ended.” He added, “She made it on a 51-48 vote. Fifty-one — all these terrible, atrocious DEI judges and U.S. attorneys under Biden, they were all approved narrowly like that.” [Rumble, The Howie Carr Show, 5/1/26]
  • US District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong

    • Criticizing Frimpong — who was born in Los Angeles — Matt Walsh claimed, “Watching all this domestic terrorism, judges with foreign names are of course taking the side of the terrorists.” [The Daily Wire, The Matt Walsh Show, 7/15/25; CA.gov, 11/17/25]
    • Former Infowars host David Knight mocked Frimpong’s name, saying, “Oh, yes, a good classic American name. Just the type of person who I would want sitting as a judge. I'm sure they can be trusted.” [Rumble, The David Knight Show, 7/15/25]
  • US District Judge Myong J. Joun

    • Laura Loomer mocked Joun’s name, saying, “Can't have a normal name, right? Got to be a foreigner.” Loomer said the judge’s name “sounds like some kind of an electrical technical glitch” or “maybe like a noise my dog would make if she was super hyperactive.” She complained, “Where do they come up with these names? I'm sure Media Matters is going to clip this and say that I'm being racist toward Asians. Whatever. I don't care.” [Rumble, Loomer Unleashed, 5/27/25]
  • US District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai

    • While criticizing Kasubhai’s ruling on gender-affirming care for minors, X22 Report host David Marc Fishman noted the judge’s Muslim background and claimed that “very strict Muslim countries” are “very much in line with the trans groups,” saying, “The trans groups go after children to have sex, and when you look at a lot of the Muslim nations, they allow sex with children.” Fishman read a Libs of TikTok post complaining that “Biden-appointed Muslim Judge Mustafa D. Kasubhai struck down HHS Secretary RFK Jr.'s directive to stop taxpayer-funded sex change surgeries for kids.” [YouTube, X22 Report, 4/22/26; Media Matters, 6/25/24]
  • US District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan

    • Speaking to The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro, Newsmax host Rob Schmitt accused Sooknanan of having “obvious loyalties outside of this country.” He complained that judges like Sooknanan “see this as just a wealthy land that should be pillaged by the rest of the world. That's how they feel about the United States, because I don't think they have America's best interests at heart.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 9/3/25]
    • War Room host Harrison Smith said Sooknanan “shouldn't even be in this country.” Smith complained that “we have foreign judges named Sparkle deciding that the law is whatever she feels like it should be, not what is actually the law,” arguing, “That’s obviously a major problem we have in our country.” He added, “These are people that do not love America. They don't even like America. They constantly organize against America. They do not renounce their old countries. They do not drop their loyalty to their former countries. So why do we take them in? Why are we obligated to give them any benefit of the doubt? Because the likes of Ben Shapiro don't give a damn about the browning of our country.” [Infowars, War Room, 6/24/26]
  • Video file

    Citation

    From the June 24, 2026, edition of Infowars' War Room

    • The Charlie Kirk Show co-host Andrew Kolvet complained that Sooknanan is a “foreigner” from “Trinidad, a country known to be the most wonderful representative of democracy in the world.” [Rumble, The Charlie Kirk Show, 6/23/26]
  • US District Judge Indira Talwani

    • Rob Schmitt said Talwani “is the daughter of two immigrants, which is a very American story, but in this case it’s very obvious this judge’s loyalties do not lie here.” He complained that one-third of district court judges in Washington, D.C., “were born outside of this country” and claimed, “They all have the same politics — disciples of the left-wing crusade to open up the United States for global looting.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 4/15/25]
    • Referring to Talwani, former Infowars host Owen Shroyer asked, “You think she was born here?” then told his viewers, “Place your bets now where she was born.” After looking it up, Shroyer read that Talwani was born in New Jersey but specified: “Well, her parents are from Punjab, India.” [WIN Network, Owen Report, 10/31/25]
  • Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Haaris Syed

    • Newsmax host Carl Higbie reacted to Syed’s appointment by saying, “Islam — I’m always warning people that it could take a hold, especially in our legal system.” He continued, “We have seen some stuff from guys like this. What happens when you start seeing, I don’t know, a sharia-style viewpoint incorporate itself into U.S. law that is not in favor of our Constitution?” Former Assistant Attorney General Theo Wold agreed with Higbie and claimed that in Great Britain, “One of the reasons why the rape gangs were able to do what they did and proliferate like that [is] because a lot of Islamic judges control the local family courts in that country.” [Newsmax, Carl Higbie Frontline, 7/6/26]